The parents of a Libyan woman who said she had been raped by Muammar Gaddafi's troops say their daughter is being held hostage at the Libyan leader's compound in Tripoli.

Iman al-Obeidi's story came to prominence at the weekend when she went to a Tripoli hotel, clearly distressed, to speak to foreign correspondents. With television cameras rolling, she was tackled by waitresses and government minders and dragged away.

In interviews broadcast on Monday on al-Jazeera television, Obeidi's parents denied government claims that their daughter had been released after the hotel incident and was now with a sister in the Libyan capital. They also countered allegations by a government spokesman who said she was a prostitute.

The parents said Obeidi was a lawyer, and that she was being held at Gaddafi's compound in Bab al-Aziziya in the capital. It was unclear where the parents were speaking from, and al-Jazeera did not provide their names.

"I don't feel ashamed. Instead my head is up high," the mother told al-Jazeera, saying her daughter "broke the barrier that no other man could break" by coming forward to allege rape.

In the al-Jazeera footage, the teary-eyed mother holds the Libyan opposition flag around her shoulders and says Obeidi is "a hostage, taken by the tyrants". She also pleads for help from the "youth of Tripoli".

The mother says she received a phone call on Monday from an unidentified caller, purportedly from the Gaddafi camp, telling her Obeidi was at the Tripoli compound and asking her to instruct her daughter to change the rape claim in return for freedom and other benefits.

"Whatever you ask for, you will get: build a new house or get the money," the mother said the caller offered.

Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, claimed on Sunday that Obeidi was a prostitute who had been released since her outburst at the Rixos hotel, and was staying with her sister in Tripoli.

The government said four men had been interrogated in the case, including the son of a high-ranking state official.

In the al-Jazeera interview, Obeidi's father held a photograph that he said showed his daughter graduating from law school. He said she was pursuing a postgraduate degree.

Obeidi told foreign media on Saturday that she had been detained by a number of Gaddafi's troops at a Tripoli checkpoint on Wednesday. She said they had been drinking alcohol and had handcuffed her before 15 men later raped her.